Legacy of the Namikaze
by Xander-San
Summary: When Naruto is given his fathers Fuuinjutsu notes as a gift on his seventh birthday, Sarutobi had no idea of the secret contained within. Armed with his fathers skill and knowledge, his mothers training in clan techniques, and most importantly, his parents blessing - Naruto will achieve his dreams, even if he has to re-write destiny to do it. Sealmaster!Naruto, Minato Lives!(Sorta)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, boy and girls! And Asexual members of the community, or whatever the hell you identify as. I don't know, I don't care, I just want you to know that I am glad you have taken an interest in** _ **Legacy of the Namikaze!**_

 **Just as a forewarning, I have the entirety of the story planned out ahead of time, so suggestions will be mostly ignored. I know exactly how this story will go, unlike Kishimoto when he started the story. No continuity errors in this story, thank you very much.**

 **A few things -**

 **-The ENTIRETY of the Kyuubi is sealed inside Naruto, not half the chakra. Never liked that idea.**

 **\- Im not going to paint a happy story of Naruto's childhood in this story. In my opinion, that is what makes naruto who he is, and what makes him one of my favorite characters of all time.**

 **\- Naruto is, in my opinion, actually a very smart person who has been hindered by his upbringing. That will be rectified in this story, so I don't think I'm making Naruto too OOC by making him smart.**

 **\- Kakashi will be OOC because I think hes a lot nicer than the Anime portrayed him as.**

 **\- I have never read the Manga, just watched the Anime, so if there are things I miss due to mistranslation please feel free to tell me.**

 **Other than that, please enjoy the story, and dont forget to review at the end if you enjoyed!**

Seven year old Uzumaki Naruto was not having a pleasant day. Although, saying that he was not having a good day would be like saying that jumping in a lake would get your damp, or that the villagers of Konoha didn't like him that much.

In other words, an understatement.

If he were any other child, this day would be one of his happiest all year long. It was his birthday today - October tenth. For some of the other children who shared his birthday, it was even better - today was the day of the annual Kyuubi Festival. A festival and a birthday on the same day would make any normal child look forward to this day.

Naruto was not a normal child.

Where most people his age would have looked towards this day on the calendar with excitement, he counted down the days with dread. Most kids looked forward to the celebrations and carnival games, the occasional shinobi using low-rank ninjutsu in place of fireworks, the food, and generally just the happy atmosphere of the town as they celebrated their victory over the Kyuubi that had nearly destroyed their village, and mourned the lost Yondaime Hokage as he wished he would be with one of his last acts as leader of the village: With festival and fanfare.

Naruto, however, was forced to endure the results of people ignoring the other of the Yondaime's dying wishes. Of course, Naruto didn't know this. He didn't know why he was chased, or beaten, or ridiculed or any of the other hundreds of things that happened to him on a near-daily basis. He didn't know of the demons continued existence, or how it was sealed deep inside of him in layers of complex Fuuinjutsu.

He just knew that today was October 10th, he had turned seven years old, and he needed to get to the Hokage tower before the sun set fully or he would suffer one of the worst beatings he had ever had in his short life.

Unfortunately, that was saying something, as he had been beaten many times before.

The younger townsfolk, having no idea of the secret that dwelled in the dark corners of their elders minds, were still enjoying the festival. Most of the townsfolk were still enjoying it, in fact. However, a few dozen - among them a couple of low-rank or retired ninja - had since decided to start one of their less cheerful annual activities. Demon-brat hunting.

Naruto's sandaled feet pounded the dirt roads, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he stumbled on his feet, turning a corner. The Hokage tower, only a few blocks away, seemed to taunt him from this distance. The streets were mostly empty, save the few people who watched him with either an angry glare or an indifferent gaze, not bothering to do anything but judge him as he ran by.

Well, them and the mob of over fifty angry people chasing behind him.

Can't forget his adoring fans, after all.

Naruto had just started at the ninja Academy this year, so he hadn't learned much about being a ninja other than basic history knowledge(Boring) and the ninja codes of conduct(important, but also boring). Which was a shame - Naruto really wished he had the ninja power to teleport - he had no idea what a **Shushin** was at age seven - or even the ability to throw a few kunai to scare the people away. Most of them were civilians, after all, and had no idea how to fight against a trained ninja, or even a second-year academy student. And Konoha Shinobi weren't allowed to attack other village Shinobi outside of spars or training. So if he had any idea how to fight back at all, he would be safe.

But he didn't, so he wasn't, and so he ran. Ran to the only place he knew he would be safe - the office of Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage - or Hokage-jiji, as he called him. Jiji had been one of his only supporters, along with Ayame and Teuchi, the owners of Ichiraku's Ramen. Ichiraku's was closed though, and he doubted that his two favorite chefs could protect him from a horde of angry people. So Jiji it was.

He was nearly a block away from the tower when about a dozen of the mob members that had split off earlier ran in front of him, bursting from a side alley and cutting off his escape, menacing grins on their faces. Cursing, he ran the only way he could - to the left, into an alley he knew was a dead end. There was a fire escape he could climb up, if he could only reach it in time-

Except, to his growing horror, the ladder was pulled up by a single chunin who had been standing there for that exact purpose. They had planned this from the start, forcing him into an empty alley where he couldn't escape, and no one could come to his rescue without going through the mob.

He ran past the ladder, ignoring the jeers from the teen atop the fire escape as he did so. He reached the brick wall, briefly considering trying to scale it, but groaned internally as he saw that someone had filled in the old brick wall recently, replacing the chipped, easy-access handholds with smooth caulking. Someone had clearly put a lot of thought into tonight's activities.

He growled under his breath, anger mixing in with the fear he felt. Clenching his fists, he slowly turned to glare up at the villagers, who matched his glare with their own sneers.

One of the more vocal members of the crowd laughed, slapping a wooden board into his hand as he did so. "What are you going to do, brat? Fight us all off? Newsflash: There's over fifty of us and only one of you, demon. There's no way you can take down one of us, much less all of us." Naruto knew this was true, but he didn't back down. Clad in only his sandals, a white t-shirt and blue shorts, he was ready to do his damndest to take down this mob or go down trying.

"No, he probably won't be able to for another year or so. But I can right now - if you'd like to try your luck, that is." A voice spoke from behind the boy, raspy with age, a edge of quiet humor underlaid beneath a whole lot of anger. Naruto knew that voice. Turning, he saw his favorite old man, clad in his robes and the distinctive hat all members of his position were known for. The crowd stopped, a few of them trembling in fear. None of them had even noticed the man's arrival until he spoke - sans the shinobi of the crowd, who had left the second they felt his chakra presence approaching.

"Hokage-Jiji! You came!" He cried, turning to hug the old man.

The members of the mob took this as their cue to leave, a couple stuttering out fearful apologies, while most simply fled immediately. A few of the more drunken ones briefly considered pressing the attack, but a quick burst from Sarutobi sent them fleeing as well.

Now standing in a mostly empty alley, Sarutobi returned the hug, patting the blonde child on the head and smiling down at him. Inwardly, however, he was seething with anger. He may not have recognized most of the villagers, but he made a point of memorizing the chakra signatures of each of his ninja, and they would be reprimanded.

Harshly.

The Hokage was broken from his thoughts on how to punish his shinobi when he felt Naruto's embrace tighten, and the front of his robes grow damp as the young boys hug turned into a tearful embrace.

"It's ok, Naruto. You're safe now. No one will hurt you when I'm here." He said - not without a small trace of guilt. If he had only enforced the rules better, or made sure he had assigned an ANBU escort for the day, or adopted the boy himself as he so wanted to -

"No, Jiji. I'm not." Was the muffled reply from the boy he considered his grandson. Teary blue eyes, lined with a weariness no child should have ever known, stared back up at him sadly. "As cool and powerful as you may be, the second I leave your sight they'll be back. Same as every year." Naruto pulled back from the hug, looking back down at the ground sadly, wiping tears off from his face as he did so.

Sarutobi sighed, wishing he could do something, anything to help the boy. He knew that it was unreasonable to want to have a guard stationed to watch one boy every day of the year with his limited resources, and adopting the boy would put him in danger - people would use Naruto as a way to get back at the Hokage if they knew just how close they were. Telling the boy why people hated him would only make him angry at him for not telling him sooner, and telling the town of his heritage would put him in more danger than adopting him...

If only there was a way to keep the boy safe - or even a way to teach him to protect himself!

He nearly slapped his own face as he remembered just exactly who the boys parents were, and what they were renowned for. He was an Uzumaki, for kami-sama's sake...

Sarutobi looked down at the blonde. _He did start at the Academy a few months ago, and if his clan still existed, he would no doubt be learning this as a clan art._

"Naruto... let's go to my office for a bit. I have a present for you, as well as something I'd like to teach you." The boy looked up at him, surprised - he rarely got gifts. And something to teach him?

Naruto quickly forgot the early events of the day, running past Sarutobi, tugging on his hand as he went, causing the only man to stumble. "Lets go lets go lets go!" He repeated, pulling the Hokage as he went. "What are you gonna teach me? Is it a secret ninja art? Like, shooting fireballs and stuff? Oh, or maybe how to teleport like you did earlier!" He rambled on, exasperating - but not surprising him in the slightest. Naruto had a tendency towards mood swings that matched his attention span.

"Not fireballs or teleportation. And that wasn't teleportation, it was a **Shunshin no jutsu(Body Flicker Technique)**. The shinobi who casts it sacrifices the ability to see his surroundings for the skill to move at extreme speeds towards his target destination, appearing as if he had... teleported..." He said, slowly stopping as he realized Naruto's eyes had glazed over. "But yes, I'll teach you a secret ninja art."

Naruto gasped, eyes wide, and Sarutobi chuckled as he continued. "Tell me, Naruto, what do you know about Fuuinjutsu?"

The Hokage's office was nearly empty, with most of the staff having left early or even having the day off. Naruto followed the elderly man as he walked up the stairs of the tower, nearly bouncing on his heels. He was going to learn super cool secret ninja stuff! And from what Hokage-jiji had told him, it would be stuff like exploding tags, or gravity seals, or how to make his own locks to protect his apartment - something he would use as soon as possible.

The Hokage reached the large door to his own office, and pressed a hand to the intricate seal, pushing a small amount of chakra into it. The energy glowed a bright blue, tracing down the thick, interlocking lines that made up the seal, covering it in its entirety. When the whole seal was lit, he stopped pushing chakra into it, and the seal turned dark again. With a soft click, the door unlocked and pushed open. Naruto, who had watched the whole scene in awe, whispered quietly. "Am... Am I going to learn how to do _that_?" It wasn't the first time he had seen Jiji open the locks to his office, but it was the first time he had any idea what the seal was or how it was made. So this was Fuuinjutsu?

Sarutobi just smiled down at the boy, before pushing the door open and walking in. He flicked a switch on the wall, and the lights came on - a startling contrast to the mysticism of the seal on his door and the anti-climactic ease of modern technology. He walked to his desk, taking a seat, as Naruto quietly sat in a chair across from him.

The Hokage settled into his chair, filling and lighting his pipe, before taking a long drag on the tobacco within. Blowing a small stream of smoke to the side, he turned and looked at Naruto with some amusement as the boy fidgeted in his chair, obviously impatient.

"Tell me, Naruto. What do you know about the Uzumaki?" He began, discreetly activating the privacy seals on his office. He didn't know exactly how tonight would go, but he had an inkling that Naruto might learn some secrets that should be kept a little tighter than usual. When he saw the blonde boy start at the mention of his clan name, then sheepishly shrug, Sarutobi nodded. About as much as he expect him to then.

"The Uzumaki were a small clan, barely numbering into a thousand at the time of their downfall twenty-three years ago." He said, tapping his fingers on his desk. "Despite their size, however, they were well known and extremely powerful - not to mention incredibly dangerous to fight in any circumstance. They had a couple of unique bloodlines, foremost among them being extremely large and highly developed chakra networks, as well as the ability to condense and compound their chakra into such a high density that it took physical form..." Noting that Naruto, who had been listening with rapt attention, was now starting to lose focus, he sighed and decided to simplify. "They could summon chains of chakra out of their bodies and use them in battle."

Naruto's eyes lit up in awe, and Sarutobi sighed inwardly. _And I expect him to master Fuuinjutsu, with that attention span?_ Carrying on, he continued. "But, above that, they were well known for one thing above all - The Uzumaki were complete masters of the art of Fuuinjutsu. As a matter of fact, their home - the Land of Whirlpools - was so heavily fortified with Fuuinjutsu that they managed to hold off an invading force over fifty times their size for almost a year before falling. And even when they did fall, their enemies suffered a loss of twenty shinobi to every member of the clan that fell."

"You see, the Uzumaki were extremely powerful, and had made quite a few enemies by the time the third shinobi war began. Among them was the entirety of Iwagakure, and dozens of smaller villages. So when the war was reaching its end, Iwa and their allies took this as their chance to attack the weakened clan, hoping to surprise them and overwhelm them quickly. Suffice to say, that didn't work, as the ambush quickly turned into a siege that lasted almost a year, before finally falling. A few people managed to escape the invasion, however..."

Seeing he had Naruto hanging off his words again, he smiled inwardly before taking another puff of his pipe, extending his suspense until he was visibly squirming in his seat.

"Well, Jiji? What happened next?" Sarutobi hid a grin as the boy's impatience got the better of him.

"Well, we offered them safety here in Konoha, but only three or four took up the offer. One of them was Uzumaki Kushina, wife of the Yondaime Hokage. They lived with us for a long while, before the Kyuubi attacked." Naruto's eyes widened, as he realized what he was implying.

"Jiji... was... were my parents..?" He asked softly, and Sarutobi winced.

"Your mother was a refugee Uzumaki, yes." he said softly, knowing exactly where this was going. "And yes, Naruto, I know who your parents were. And they asked that you not know who they were until you were old enough to inherit your legacy and be able to protect yourself with it - because they both had made many enemies, and knew that leaving you parentless with a legacy like theirs would put you in so much danger." Sarutobi closed his eyes, considering. _Too late to back out now. And he's ready to know - or, at least, he's old enough to handle it._ Coming to a conclusion, he opened a drawer on the bottom of his desk, pulling out a couple of small, leather-bound notebooks. One was a faded yellow, with a seal inscribed on it - a decorative form of the **Hiraishin** , although Naruto wouldn't know that. The other was a deep blue, sealed with silver chains and the Uzumaki clan whirlpool emblazoned on the front.

Sarutobi handed the yellow one to him, and Naruto tried to open it, excited. The leather-bound cover didn't even budge, refusing to open, and Naruto looked up at the Sandaime, puzzled. "Why won't it open? And whose is it, anyway?" he asked.

"Its sealed with a blood seal, Naruto. I cannot even open it. Only someone who is directly related to the owner of the journal can open it, and it requires a drop of their blood on the seal on front to do so."

Naruto looked at him, still confused, then came to a realization and went to bite his thumb with his sharper-than-normal canines. Wincing slightly as he did so, Naruto didn't even register the fact that Sarutobi hadn't even answered his other question. Smearing his blood covered thumb on the seal, it began to glow a bright yellow, before incredibly intricate lines were traced over the cover of the book. Naruto and Sarutobi watched in awe as the lines grew thicker and more defined, before the boy yelped as the cover forced itself open from between his hands.

It fell to the floor, pages turning by themselves, until it seemingly opened to the middle of the book by itself. A large seal was emblazoned there, covering both pages, and said seal began to glow a bright blue. The seal faded as the energy from the book lifted it self off of the pages, blinding both the boy and the elderly man, as they covered their eyes and looked away.

When they looked back, they weren't alone in the room.

A tall man with bright, yellow hair - much like Naruto's - stood there, where the book had been a second prior. The hair was long and spiked, with two long strands hanging on the sides of his face, framing a lightly tanned face, with deep blue eyes and a smirk. He wore a green vest over a blue, long sleeved shirt, and blue pants. All in all, he didn't look all that remarkable compared to some of the other ninja Naruto had seen.

To Sarutobi, however, it was as if a ghost itself had appeared before him - which one had. The Hokage reached out a trembling hand, afraid to say anything, as if merely speaking would prove this to be just a dream.

"Kami-sama..." The man began, stretching. "Seven years in a book will give you such a crink in the neck." Sarutobi knew that voice, as well as the smirk and the mischievous glint in the man's eye as he spoke.

"Mi...Minato?" he whispered, and the blonde man smiled, a familiar smirk on a so painfully familiar face. Sarutobi felt a single tear trace its way down his wrinkled face, and the pipe fell from his mouth, forgotten.

"Good to see you, Sarutobi." The blonde man replied, and Sarutobi knew it could be none other.

"J-Jiji, who is that?" A younger voice mumbled, and Minato looked down from his predecessor and successors face to the smaller blond head that peaked around from behind the red and white robes that Sarutobi wore. His face grew sad and his smile faded to a solemn frown as he saw the dirty clothes and clear, gaunt hunger on the boys face, as well as the eyes that were far too old for a boy his age to have.

Minato had seen eyes like those only a few times, on the faces of shinobi and civilians that had survived the war. They were the eyes of someone who had lost everything they had ever had and suffered far more than any human ever should. The eyes of someone who only lived because they had nothing better to do than try, because they had given up trying to make things better and just hoped for things to change. The eyes of an orphan, the eyes of someone who was drowning in loneliness.

And, most sadly, the eyes of his son.

Minato felt a single tear of his own trace down his face, before falling off his chin and fading back into chakra. He crouched on the ground, kneeling, meeting the boys sad eyes with his own. He held his arms out, then felt anger and sorrow churn within him as Naruto flinched back at the sudden movement, hiding back behind Sarutobi. He looked up at the old man with clear begging in his eyes.

Sarutobi spoke slowly, still not believing that he wasn't hallucinating. "This... This is Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, Naruto." Naruto's eyes widened as he heard the name of his hero, and he shyly ducked his head.

"Hello, Namikaze-Sama." He whispered, and Minato shook his head.

"Please. I have a title so much more important than that I'd like you to call me, Naruto."

Naruto nodded, shamefaced. "Sorry, Hokage-Sama." Minato chuckled darkly.

"No, Naruto. Much more important than that." Seeing the confused look the boy sent him, he held his arms out again. "Tou-San." Naruto started, visibly, and then dawning joy showed on his face. "I'm your father, Naruto. And I'm so, so sorry for not being here when you needed me most. I've failed you, and for that, I'm -" he was cut off as a small body impacted him, slamming into his body and wrapping its arms around him.

"P-papa." Naruto stuttered, and Minato felt the tears come in earnest as he returned the embrace. "Papa!" He shouted from between his tears, and they simply held each other and cried for a while.

Sarutobi was crying as well, but not wanting to intrude, despite the fact that he was witnessing the impossible. Minato was _dead._ He had watched him die. But here he was, seeing something that he never would have dreamed had happened in his wildest moments of imagination.

When Minato finally stood, looking at Sarutobi, he smiled again, wiping tears from his face. Naruto clung to his leg, still sniffling, and he patted his hair softly. Both of the elder men felt the strain on their hearts as Naruto looked up, eyes closed, grinning in his signature smile. Minato nearly began crying again, before he cleared his throat.

"I'm afraid I don't have much time, Naruto." he began, and the boy took a step back, scared. "Im not leaving you, I promise. But I can't maintain this form for too long. The death god doesn't like people who cheat on his deals." Naruto was confused, but Sarutobi started in realization.

"You mad bastard... you sealed part of your soul in the book." He whispered softly, and Minato grinned at him.

"That is what they called me, isn't it? Besides the Yellow Flash. 'Minato, the crazy bastard.' Has a nice ring to it." He sighed, before his face took a more serious cast. "Yes. The night the Kyuubi attacked, I knew I wouldn't be coming back, so I sealed three parts of my soul into my journal, as well as a rather large part of my chakra I had stored away for years. I originally planned to use that chakra as a backup measure for a technique I had been planning to use, but..." he shrugged. "I figured that using it for this would be much better." He looked down at Naruto, smiling again as he rested his hand on the boy's head. "Damn if I wasn't right."

He continued on. "I only have a few moments left, so here goes. Naruto... As much as I would love to remain with you forever, I need you to realize something." The boy looked up at him, and he continued sadly. "I'm gone, Naruto. What you're talking to now is merely a fragment of who i was, given physical form with a large amount of my energy. Within three minutes, this part of my soul will be gone, sucked into the belly of the Shinigami. Sarutobi will explain more once I'm done. Two more fragments of my soul remain, and I want you to only summon them on very specific occasions. Once when you graduate the Academy and make Genin- because no son of me and Kushina could ever be anything but a Shinobi - and once more when you are ready to reveal your heritage to the world, when you make Jonin. Do you understand, Naruto?" He asked his son, and the boy nodded sadly.

"That doesn't mean, however, that you'll only hear from me twice. All you have to do is push some chakra into the book and write a question, and I can write an answer back. Neat, huh?" Naruto nodded, excitedly, but then grew forelorn as he realized something.

"I... can't read, Otou-san. They won't teach me at the school." Minato's hand clenched as he looked up at Sarutobi, and the elderly man met his angry gaze with a shocked one of his own.

"I knew that he wasn't treated well... but I had no idea the neglect went this deep..." the Sandaime Hokage whispered angrily. "They will be punished, Minato. I swear it."

The tall blonde nodded, and the other two started as the realized he was starting to fade. "Teach him, Sarutobi. You teach him how to talk to me... And I'll teach him the rest." He cocked his head, starting at the older man, and then smiled. "Naruto, when you summon me next time, make sure it's in front of your Jounin-Sensei." Sarutobi looked at him, confused, then smiled, understanding, when Minato covered his left eye with one hand. Yes, Kakashi would be his Jounin-Sensei. He chuckled inwardly as he thought of the man's reaction when he saw Minato again.

Naruto felt the pressure of his father's hand on his head lessen, and looked up sadly as the man continued fading. They could now see right through the man, and he could no longer affect the physical world. "One last thing, Naruto. The happiest day of my life was that day I learned I was having a son, who would carry on the clan I was born into, as well as the one I had married into. Your mother would be so proud to see how strong you've gotten." He crouched down, looking Naruto in the eyes.

"I will always be proud of you, Naruto. All the things I have ever done in my life, and you are my greatest achievement. Never forget that." He pressed his lips to the boy's forehead, as his cheeks were becoming stained with tears again. "I will always love you, Naruto. Grow strong, and carry on your name."

Soon, the man faded completely, leaving just a transparent outline. "You will always be worthy of carrying on your family name. You are my son, and I couldn't be prouder to call you that."

He faded away completely, leaving a yellow, leather bound book on the ground where he been moments prior. "You are my legacy, son." His voice whispered, and then there was nothing.

Where the symbol of the **Hiraishin** had been a few minutes before, were a few Kanji emboldened over the Namikaze clan symbol.

They read, simply, "Legacy of the Namikaze."

 **Greetings, friendos. The name is Xander, and this will be my first Naruto Fanfiction. I hope you all enjoyed the heavily emotional first chapter.**

 **Not gonna lie, I cried a little while writing this. You do not know what weird looks are until you have seen people staring at you while you sit in a starbucks cafe, crying quietly as you type on a laptop. Curse me and my sensitive, emotional side. I JUST WANT TO BE MANLY.**

 **Oh well, my pain is your gain. Hope you liked it, and don't forget to review! Like, seriously. Reviews are the fuel upon which my muse subsists on.**

 **Next chapter should be up soonish. Because I'm super excited to write this.**

 **C'iao!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yo! And welcome to chapter two of Legacy. Thanks so much to all the people who reviewed, and I have some answers/responses to those of you who did.**

 **Moon of my heart: Thanks, but I'm not a lady.**

 **Uchiha Zeref: I'm aware that there was no mob. I needed something to be a catalyst for Sarutobi to give the journal to Naruto in an effort to protect the boy, and a mob of drunken, angry civillians fit the bill.**

 **flmarine0352: Kishimoto's apparent inability to form a sequence of events is the main reason I stopped watching naruto past the Akatsuki arc. Like, seriously, why man. Why.**

 **Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night: No, there's nothing wrong with men crying. But I can only imagine what people thought of a 6'2, bearded man who looks disturbingly like a lumberjack crying as he typed looked like to that poor barista.**

 **Novrier: Thanks so much for the review! means a lot to me to have someone think so highly of my work. I'm glad you enjoyed and I'll try to keep up with your expectations!**

 **bureuk: That would be telling, and wheres the fun in that? Suffice to say that Naruto will know a consideribly large amount about seals, and that he may or may not dabble in Uzumaki clan arts. But like I said: That would be telling.**

 **gvargas132: Love you too! heres the update!**

 **watson85: awe you make me blush. Manly, bearded blushing, but still blushes :P. And if you read this chapter it may answer your question.**

 **netesy1: Thank you!**

 **Now, a couple things before we begin.**

 **Naruto is probably up to high-genin low-chunin experience at this point in the story. He has spent a while learning from Minato, but learning theory from a book - no matter how awesome of a book it is - will never match up to real combat experience. The only thing he really excells in is Fuuinjutsu... which is kind of the point of the story.**

 **Naruto will be in his last year of the Academy in this chapter. If he seems, well, out of character, it's for one big reason.**

 **Naruto has, basically, spent the last four years of his life getting extended tutoring from the Yondaime Hokage, who was considered to be one of the strongest Shinobi to ever walk the Elemental Nations, not to mention one of the most incredibly talented masters of Fuuinjutsu. So he might be a little smarter than you expect.**

 **But he's still Naruto...**

 **Enjoy.**

Iruka had no idea what to think of Naruto. The boy had only been in his class for a little over a year, but he had already been proven to be one of his most... troublesome students, to borrow from the Nara. It was currently his third year in the academy, and the boy was a conundrum at the age of ten.

All of his previous teachers referred to him as a brat, a troublemaker, and a simpleton completely unable to learn properly. Some of these things Iruka could see - a few pranks he had pulled around the school attested to that, as well Naruto's seeming ignorance when it came to a few subjects, such as history or mathematics. Seeming ignorance - Iruka was relatively sure the boy was faking it in order to not have to do some of the harder work he was assigned in class.

But his biggest clue was the fact that he always had some sort of book in his hand.

Most of the time it was a simple instruction booklet, or a fantasy novel of some sort, or occasionally even a large textbook. He would seem to tune out most of the class in favor of reading whatever currently caught his fancy, sitting in the back of the class, turning pages earnestly. Iruka had caught the names of a few of the books - _Advanced Fuuinjutsu,_ _Chakra Manipulation and Containment, Elemental Ninjutsu for Dummies,_ and many other books that were supposedly far above the level of an academy student.

So Iruka was relatively sure he was nowhere near as ignorant as he pretended to be.

But then he would go an do something incredibly stupid or random, such as _painting the hokage monument_ for Kami-Sama's sake, or the one time he had somehow managed to seal hundreds of spiders into each chair in the Kunoichi classroom, causing a massive evacuation of the school that left the boy howling with laughter when he saw some of the girls faces.

Then there was the fact that he wore that god-awful orange jumpsuit all the time. Seriously, how did he manage to elude crowds of ANBU and civilians after pranks when he wore something like that?

Suffice to say, Naruto confused him. But Iruka, knowing that many of the rumors of his idiocy and nature came from the majority of the villages dislike of his... tenant. Something that _Naruto_ even seemed to know, judging from a conversation the class had had a while ago.

It had been a simply team-building exercise, an attempt to help the future Shinobi of the village grow bonds that would be necessary in their future. They simply went around the circle, introducing what they liked and disliked, and what their dreams for the future were. After no less than seven girls had expressed their dislike for each other, their undying love for Sasuke Uchiha, and their lifelong dream of marrying said Uchiha, Iruka was willing to do anything to ignore the squeals and giggles of the Kunoichi of the class, so he turned to Naruto.

Said boy was currently apparently ignoring the rest of the class in favor of reading a high-level book on chakra control and how to channel it into elemental affinity, something most Jonin had trouble with. he would occasionally take a yellow journal out of his jacket, write in it briefly, then read for a while from said journal before nodding and placing it back in his jacket.

"Naruto, how about you?" Iruka asked, desperate for a change from 'my dream is to marry Sasuke-Chan and have many babies' as the last girl had said.

No answer from the blonde boy.

Iruka sighed as the boy took out his journal again, apparently absorbed in his studies. A couple of his classmates snickered. Inuzuka Kiba, one of the more vocal members of the class, began to mock the boy. "What's the matter, Dobe?" he asked, sneering. It was no small secret that Naruto was the last in the class, and most people assumed it was because he was a fool of some sort. "Too busy trying to cram study so you don't fail - again?" A couple people in the class snickered, but Naruto didn't respond, simply opening the journal and writing in it.

Kiba snarled, not amused at how he was being ignored, and reached out to snatch the yellow journal from Naruto. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you, dead last. Bet this notebook is just full of doodles. Not as if you could ever take notes - Urk!" He was cut off as his attempt to grab the book was thwarted by Naruto reaching out with his writing hand, grabbing onto the Inuzuka's wrist and pressing his pencils point into a pressure point on the joint of his hand. Iruka and the rest of the class started - they hadn't even seen the boy move! - and Naruto didn't even look up from where he was reading in the journal.

He finished the page he was on, ignoring the pained cries of Kiba as he bent his wrist back, seemingly dead to the world. When he finished, slapping the book closed, he put it back in his jacket and released the Inuzuka, seemingly not even registering that he had ever touched the boy.

"What was that, Iruka-Sensei? I didn't hear you." He asked with his normal cheer, and the rest of the class sweatdropped. Kiba snarled behind him, reaching out to smack the boy across the back of the head.

He was stopped again by the same hand as before, only this time instead of holding a pencil, it was holding a kunai. Kiba stopped, realizing the position he was in - Naruto could easily cripple him for life if he so wanted to. Akumaro growled from within his jacket, and Naruto simply sighed and moved back again, point clearly made.

"Your likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future, Naruto." Iruka said, still surprised at the boy's speed. _Dead last my ass._ Kiba was one of the best at Taijutsu of all the students in this class, and Naruto had dealt with him without even seeming to move.

"Hm..." Naruto put his hand behind his head, rubbing his neck, and shrugged. "I like ramen, I guess. I also like spending time with Jiji, learning Fuuinjutsu and reading, I guess. Uhm..." He shrugged again, before his gaze turned colder. "I dislike how long it takes ramen to cook, girls who play at being ninja to get close to their crush-" At this, many of the Kunoichi of the class glared at him, but Sasuke just grunted and nodded. "- And people who don't understand the difference between a fox and the cage it's locked in." This last bit was aimed right at Iruka, who gaped like a fish at this revelation. The rest of the class was simply confused - what was this about foxes and cages? - but Iruka was shocked. He managed to cover it up before too many noticed, but simply nodded at Naruto understandingly.

"My dreams for the future are to become Hokage!" he shouted, pumping his fist, before pulling his book out again. "And the other ones are... classified, I guess." And with that, he simply went back to reading his Jounin-level material.

Yes, Naruto clearly knew about the Kyuubi. Iruka wasn't entirely sure how, but it wasn't really his problem. Naruto didn't seem to want to go insane or get revenge on the village because of how they treated him - other than his 'harmless' pranks - so it wasn't a big issue in Iruka's case.

Naruto had relatively few friends in his age group, probably due to how the parents of the children in his class treated the boy. Kids learn from their parents, after all, and their hatred of the jinchuriki transferred to their children. His only real friends were Choji, the Akimichi boy, Nara Shikamaru, and surprisingly Kiba - turns out Kiba was one of those people who only respected those who beat them.

Said quartet of boys was currently off to the side of the class as Iruka attempted to teach them the history of the third shinobi war. Choji was munching chips and talking to Kiba quietly, and Shikamaru and Naruto were... playing Shogi? When the hell did they pull that board out. And where had they kept it?

Iruka decided to ignore them, as Shikamaru was in the same boat as Naruto - namely, pretending to be stupid to avoid work - and the other two were smart enough in their own right.

The lesson continued, with Iruka slowly losing most of the class as they spiralled into boredom. Naruto apparently lost the game of shogi, and as a reward, Shikamaru took a nap. The fangirls of the class had begun a whispering campaign not too long ago, and the rest of the class was trying not to emulate the Nara boy and fall asleep. Iruka sighed.

"Well, seeing as I've lost most of you, let's talk about something exciting instead!" He said, clapping his hands, startling most of the class - save Shikamaru, who slept through anything, and Naruto, who continued writing in his notebook animatedly.

"What do you know about the Yellow Flash of Konoha?" He said, looking around the class. He noted with amusement that Naruto's head snapped up, and he hurriedly wrote something in his notebook before putting it back in his jacket. When no one in the class answered, he called on someone random - a young boy in the front row, as it was. "You, Jurisu?" He asked, and the boy he called on jumped.

"Uhm... he was the third Hokage... he, uh, killed the Kyuubi..?" The boy said uncertainly. Naruto snorted quietly in the back of the class, but no one noticed, save Iruka.

"Thats good, but thats not what I asked. I asked about the Yellow Flash of Konoha, not the Yondaime Hokage. What did he do in the third shinobi war?" No one answered, and Iruka saw Naruto roll his eyes as he reached back into his jacket.

"Naturo? What do you know?" he asked, stopping the boy, who looked up to him with shock and - amusement? what did he find funny?

Naruto put his hands behind his head, putting his feet up on the desk. "Basically? Everything. He was my... Is my hero, after all." he said, smirking. Someone in the class muttered 'prove it' and the blonde happily obliged.

"Well. Namikaze Minato was born to the the Namikaze Clan, a rather small clan of no small strength. Known for their mastery of chakra manipulation and their extensive jutsu creation, they were however relatievly unknown until Minato gained fame. They also had the lesser-known skill of being bakers, of all things. Minato, with his parents blessing, joined the ninja academy and quickly vaulted to the top of his class, having an innate talent for the Ninja arts, as well as a work ethic that would make ants envious. He had slightly above-average chakra capacity, but his control was to fine that he could have been a med-nin by the age of twelve if he wanted to be so.

"Upon graduating the academy, he was placed on a team under the command of his Jounin-Sensei, Jiraiya of the Sannin. When the young boys skill in Fuuinjutsu became apparent - one of Jiraiya's main interests - the man took him under his wing as his own apprentice. By the time Minato became Jonin he had far outstripped Jiraiya as a Fuuinjutsu Master, and this was only increased when he married Uzumaki Kushina, a refugee from the land of whirlpools, and a... relative of mine, if you will." He smirked at this, and the class was shocked. Naruto, of all people, related to the Yondaime - even if it was distantly, and by marriage?

"During the beginning of the third shinobi war, he was only a Special Jounin. However, once the battles began in earnest, he was quickly promoted due to his undeniable and unstoppable prowess on the battlefield. This was due to a tactic comprised of two things - two techniques of his own devising. One was the **Hiraishin** , or the "Thunder God Step," an incredibly complex seal made with Fuuinjutsu, and the other was the **Rasengan** , or spiralling sphere, an orb made of purse, condensed chakra that orbited fast enough to grind through flesh like a warm kunai through butter." Naruto stopped as he realized he had the whole classes attention, but then shrugged and continued.

"The **Rasengan** was self-sustaining upon creation, allowing him to make one before a battle, seal it away, then take it out when it was needed, as if it was an ordinary Kunai. Only one other person has ever been able to create and maintain a **Rasengan** , being his mentor, Jiraiya. The orb requires massive chakra to create and even more chakra control to prevent it from shredding your hand upon creation. On a side note, he originally wanted to name the **Rasengan** the 'Flash Dancing Howling Spiralling Sphere of the Moon' or some such nonsense." He smirked as he said this, and a couple people giggled.

"By the time the war started, he was in the midst of teaching a genin team of his own, and was eventually forced to abandon them to their own during a rather important mission because of an invasion from Iwagakure. Minato managed to single-handedly kill over a thousand invading Iwa shinobi in under a minute - yes, a minutes, and a thousand. This was done by throwing hundreds of kunai with the **Hiraishin** seal on it across the battlefield, summoning two **Rasengan** , then teleporting to the kunai he had thrown in flickers of speed that were absolutely incredible. And yes, it is actual teleportation, not fast movement, such as the **Shunshin**. Within the course of a minute a full half of the Iwa invasion force was routed, dead before they even knew they were under attack, and by the time they had fled all knew the name of Namikaze Minato, or the Yellow Flash of Konoha."

He stopped, noting the looks on his classmates faces, and then sighed. "Yep. I know a bit about him." And with that, he took his notebook out and continued writing on it, ignoring the rest of the class.

Iruka just grinned as he began his lesson anew. _Dead last my ass._

The air of the class was exicted, mixed with not a small bit of nervousness. It was the day that they would find out who their Jounin-Sensei was, after all.

Iruka entered the class, wincing almost imperceptibly with each step. He met Naruto's gaze and simply nodded, thanking him for the previous night's actions. Naruto had failed the graduation test, mainly because he had too much chakra to perform the **Bunshin no Jutsu** properly - something Mizuki clearly knew, and had used to his advantage. Oh well. Iruka was mostly healed, Naruto had passed - and learned a new jutsu, to top it off - and, more importantly, his seals had gotten a field test! It was good to know that, when he took his resistance seals off, he was above chunin levels of speed. Always a fun thing to find out. And his paralysis seal he had made needed reworking, but the wound reparation seal was almost fully operational, if a little chakra inefficient.

Absent-mindedly, he wondered about the possible uses for his new **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**. Maybe he could find a way to use a sort of protection seal to keep them from popping upon taking minor damage? That would be interesting...

Absentmindedly, he pulled out his ever-present yellow journal, opening it to a seemingly blank page. Actually, all of the pages were blank until he funneled chakra into them, save page numbers on the bottom. The journal was truly a masterpiece of the sealing art - well over three thousand pages of knowledge, made to look like a simple one-hundred page book. The journal was more of an index than anything - as well as his method of speaking to his father. Speaking of whom...

 _I still can't believe you told them what I wanted to call the Rasengan._ The words seemed to write themselves on the page, and Naruto had to hide a grin as he read them. He wrote back into it.

 _You have to admit it was funny. The looks on their faces when they heard that... priceless._ He wrote, keeping a careful ear on the world around him to make sure no one was reading over his shoulder. Shikamaru had almost managed to do so once, and he was always careful to make sure it didn't happen again. The Nara boy was smart enough to know that the journal was no ordinary journal by this point - after five years of writing in it, if it was normal, it would filled to the brim and then some by now. He was either accepting or lazy enough to not press the issue, but Naruto could see the curious gazes he got whenever he pulled it out in front of him.

 _Yeah, as if I could see them. I'll just have to take your word for that one._ Came the reply from the journal, and Naruto sighed, thinking. _So. Did you see Iruka? How's he doing?_

 _He looks fine, actually. Back seems to be mostly healed, save for some tightening of the muscles - he seems to be straining them when he walks. Ill have to make sure the Healing Seal takes that into account for next time, although I was hoping to test it on a smaller injury..._ he tapped his pen on the page, watching as both his words and his fathers words faded off the page after a few moments, leaving two blank pages for him to write on. He was going to write again when suddenly the page flipped, turning to some notes about storage seals, and he quickly pretended to be writing again.

That was the automatic security seals in action - they only activated when someone was trying to look at the book as it was open. As his back was to the wall, and no one could see him, that left one possibility.

Naruto glanced up at Hyuuga Hinata, and she turned away, blushing. Even though she had been looking with her byakugan enhanced eyes, and her face was towards the board...

He opened to a blank page and wrote quickly. _It's kind of a giveaway if you look away after you get caught, even if you weren't visibly looking, Hinata._ Said girl let out a small squeak and quickly covered her head with her arms. The pages flipped back to the center two blank ones as she turned off her Byakugan, and Naruto just laughed inwardly.

 _I'm going to make a wild guess and say Hinata was at it again?_ His father wrote, and Naruto could  feel the humor in his voice. He scowled, glaring at the notebook, and then sighed.

 _I don't get girls. Like, at all. They may as well be some sort of species that has nothing to do with normal people, the way they act sometimes. Why is she always so interested in everything I do, yet never ask me anything or even get near me? Hell, she passes out when I try to talk to her._ His father knew why, but he refused to tell him, usually either changing the subject or poking fun at the boy first.

 _Anyways._ Naruto continued, _Kage no Bunshin Jutsu. What do you think about making some sort of attack repelling seal that can prevent them from dying? I mean, they last for about a second after taking damage before bursting. I theorize that this is because the Chakra they are made of is destabilizing. Do you think a seal of some sort could repair the damage done to a Kage Bunshin to prevent it from bursting? Maybe by 'filling in' the damage done with more chakra?_

 _Hmm..._ his father replied, thinking. _Maybe. But you would have to find a way to place the specific chakra a clone uses into the seal, otherwise that would destablize it just as much as a wound would... then you would have to..._

They continued their theorizing, as was the habit, as Iruke listed out the teams and who would be on them, as well as who their sensei would be. Naruto listened with one ear on the conversation, waiting for something to take his interest - which something did.

"... Team Seven, Jounin-sensei Kakashi Hatake."

 _Looks like Kakashi is getting saddled with a team, Tou-san._

 _Good. It'll be good for him._ _He could use some brats to tie him down, he's been far too irresponsible since Obito died._

"Genin on team seven will be.." Iruka ruffled some papers, then smirked. "Uchiha Sasuke-" Ino and Sakura's heads popped up when they heard this - seeing as they were the only 'fangirls' who had passed - "-Uzumaki Naruto-" Said blonde and Sasuke just grunted. They could tolerate each other at least. "-And..." Iruka frowned, eyeing both sakura and Ino, who watch with obvious impatience, glaring at each other and fawning over Sasuke. Really, they needed to get over this obsession. "...Sakura Haruno."

Ino began to cry comical tears, while Sakura brightened visibly, and Sasuke sighed. Naruto's reaction was the loudest, however.

"Shiiiiiiiit..." he moaned, repeatedly slamming his head on his desk. "I get the useless fangirl AND the teme she adores. Gaaaaaaaaaah." Everyone sweatdropped as he began to beat his head on his desk. Iruka smirked, and continued on, ignoring Naruto's one-man percussion section in the back of the class. Sakura, however, was highly annoyed.

"Oh please, Naruto. You're the dead last for a reason, and I'm almost the top of the class, right under Sasuke-kun." She said, mooning her eyes at said boy. "It was fate that me and him be on the same team. Nothing can come between true love." Naruto made various barfing noises behind her, and a tick mark formed on her head.

Once the teams were listed off - Kiba and Hinata were on the same team as Shino, he noted with some amusement. The Aburame boy was someone he respected - quiet, methodical, and intellectual. They had spent a few conversations discussing the various uses of seals, as well as Naruto giving the boy some pointers on how to better modify the seals they used to communicate to their Kikaichu insects. He waved to the trio as they left with their Jounin-sensei, Kurenai. Kiba gave him a thumbs up as Akamaru barked, Shino simply nodded, and Hinata blushed a deep crimson.

One by one, the teams filed out, until it was just Iruka and team seven waiting. Iruka sweatdropped as he remember just who their sensei was.

"Uhm.." He said, frowning. "You guys may want to go get something to eat and come back... Kakashi is usually late for everything that's not a direct order from the Hokage by at least two hours..." Sakura frowned, Sasuke just grunted, and Naruto just continued writing in his journal. He did, however, move so that he was close to his two team mates. Might as well start on team building now...

By the time Iruka left the building, it had already been two hours. Another half hour passed, with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura just chatting and growing more... and more... and more irritated as time went on. Once the three hour mark passed, Naruto decided he wanted some form of payment from his sensei when he did arrive, and laughter would do.

He walked up to the door frame, pulling a chair along with him, and grunted as he pulled a seal from his bag. If what his father had told him was right, Kakashi hated getting his hair wet, as it made it fall down from its usual gravity-defying shape and into a shaggy almost bowl-like shape.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked nervously. She may not have a lot of respect for his grades, but everyone in the school knew that when Naruto started playing with seals, you found someplace else to be.

Said blonde grunted as he used glue to press the seal to the top of the doorframe. "I'm putting a water storage seal up here and setting it to go off when Kakashi-sensei comes through the door." Sakura sighed. Not that she thought it was a bad idea, because really, who was three hours late to a meeting?

"Yeah, but why are you glueing it?" Sasuke asked, curious. "Why dont you use chakra to press it in like a normal seal, dobe?"

Naruto gave the raven-haired boy a grin. "Because, teme, two reasons. One: Kakashi is a Jounin, and he will be able to sense chakra, so I can't use it or he might find a way to avoid it. Two: This is dissolving paper. The second the water comes out of the seal, it will dissolve into a very... sparkly pink glitter, leaving our sensei looking like a fairy caught in a rainstorm." Sakura and Sasuke stared at him for a moment, before the pinkette started giggling. Sasuke even had to hide a smile, giving a humoured 'hn.' As he did so.

Naruto went back to his seat, and after a few moments Sakura stopped giggling. Fifteen more minutes passed, and Naruto had almost given up hope when he heard footsteps from the hall. He quickly put on his most innocent face and turned to face the board, acting as if he was zoning out as he heard a splash, a splutter, and a giggle from Sakura, that quickly turned to full-blown laughter.

Turning, Naruto's first sighting of his sensei was him looking extremely un-amused, very wet, and very... pretty. The orange book in his hand had gotten soaked, and he sighed as he put it in his jacket.

"My first thoughts about you..." he said, eyeing the laughing girl, the Uchiha holding in a smile - and failing - and the far-too-innocent face of the blonde boy who's fault this obviously was. He vaguely recognized this boy, but was too distracted to figure out why he looked so familiar.

"You annoy me. Meet me up at the roof in five minutes." As he turned to go, getting ready to push chakra through his body to push the water and glitter off, he heard the blonde behind him chuckled.

"See you in three hours and five minutes, Kakashi- _sensei._ " Sakura, who had just stopped giggling, burst out laughing again, and Sasuke let out a quick chuckle.

 _Damn brats._

Naruto arrived at training ground seven at exactly ten o'clock - three hours after he was told to show. He was holding his journal in his hand, reading as he walked - his father had written a rather interesting concept on how to make his clones stronger and more durable, but it would require a lot of work...

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura shouted, and Naruto didn't respond, reading on. "Naruto? Naruto? are you even listening?"

Naruto finally looked up, as if noticing Sakura for the first time. "Hm, Sakura? You say something?"

Hiding in the trees above them, Kakashi had to stifle a sneeze.

She huffed, crossing her arms. "You're three hours late, Naruto! What took you so long?"

Naruto just shrugged. "Is Kakashi here yet? I thought not. So no, I'm not late. Besides, I wanted to be well rested for this test we have today, and I had to stop and get breakfast." Sakura fumed, and Sasuke watched on with apparent disinterest, although he had to begrudginly hand it to the blonde - Kakashi wasn't here yet, so he wasn't late.

"Baka! We weren't supposed to eat either! Do you not listen to a think Kakashi-sensei said?" She said, crossing her arms after she chopped Naruto across the head. He rubbed his head, sighing, and pulled two scrolls out of his pocket.

"I got the gist of it. This is a test, Sakura. He never said it started when he got here though. I ate because it's probably going to take a lot of energy, and I do not want to be hungry. And Kakashi is going to be late, because he's Kakashi." Naruto said. Pushing some chakra into the scrolls, he watched his team-mates faces as two bowls of steaming ramen popped out. "Got you some breakfast too, because I figured that you would follow the orders to the letter."

Sakura hesitated as she eyed the bowl of food. On one hand, Naruto was a baka, and Kakashi did tell them that they would puke if they ate. On the other, she was really hungry, and it smelled really good...

Sasuke and Sakura accepted their bowls of ramen, muttering out thanks. The trio sat on the bridge, Sakura and Sasuke eating as Naruto began copying the seal his father had made onto a piece of sealing paper he had on hand. Kakashi watched in curiosity as he wrapped one of the seals around his hand, then made the hand seal for the **Kage Bunshin** jutsu as he did so. A single clone appeared, and his team-mates watched with interest as he pulled out a kunai, before stabbing the clone in the hand. The clone winced, then disappeared after a second. Naruto grunted.

"As I thought. Using the chakra to activate both the seal and cast the Jutsu at the same time works, but requires exponential amounts of chakra, and can only create one clone per seal..." He muttered, opening his journal again and continuing to modify the seal.

Sakura and Sasuke, used to Naruto's eccentrics when it came to Fuuninjutsu, didn't even comment as he repeatedly summoned and popped clone after clone as he ate. Finally, he seemed to get what he wanted, but what that was none of the people present could tell. He opened his journal reading with rapt attention and occasionally writing something.

Kakashi, curious, moved so he could read over the boys shoulder. Just as he was about to read what was written, however, the pages flipped - seemingly by themselves - and Naruto looked over his shoulder, as if able to tell that someone was reading. Deciding that he had given them enough time to stew, Kakashi jumped down from his tree, waving to his team as he approached.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura shouted, and her two teammates just scowled at him.

"Maa, I got lost on the road of life." He said, watching with amusement as his genin face-faulted. "And, well, I decided to let you finish your breakfast." Sakura suddenly looked guilty, while Sasuke frowned at being caught. Naruto, however, just stared the Jounin in his one visible eye, challenging him. Kakashi just met his gaze, raising his one visible eyebrow, before giving his signature eye-smile and continuing on.

"So, for todays test, I have two bells here. Whoever has a bell by the time the sun sets behind those trees will become a Genin -" He pointed to a few trees, noting that there would be about an hour before the said time elapsed. "-And anyone else will go back to the academy for re-training. So make sure to come at me with intent to kill, or you'll never even come close."

Sakura stuttered something about not wanting to hurt him, while Sasuke and Naruto looked at him with a calculating gaze. "There's only two bells, Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke said, and Kakashi nodded.

"At least one of you will be going back to the academy after this." He said, and the two boy's eyes narrowed.

"Will you be coming at us with intent to kill, Sensei?" Naruto asked quietly, and Kakashi shook his head, inwardly smirking. Just a Genin, asking if he was intending to kill them? "Well, will you be coming at us at all then?" The blonde asked, and Kakashi just eyed him for a bit, thinking, before shrugging.

"Might be. Might not be. I suppose you'll find out, hm?" He pulled out two kunai, and the Genin mirrored his actions. Save Naruto, who pulled out a fistful of sealing tags. Which, in Kakashi's opinion, was worse than a knife or two.

"When I say... GO!" The silver haired Jounin shouted, and each of his students did something different. Sakura tensed, unsure of what to do. Sasuke immediately jumped to attack, and Naruto did something that was the most dangerous - he ran.

Kakashi, being the experience ninja he was, knew that letting a seal master prepare was the worst possible thing you could do. As Sasuke moved to attack, swinging his kunai in an arc, Kakashi blocked as close to the bottom as he could, chopping right through the thin handles of the blades. Kicking the Uchiha in the chest, the boy went flying back, slamming into a tree, and Sakura rushed to help him.

Kakashi decided to take the both of them out while they were distracted, using a **Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu** to drag the boy under the ground, and quickly placed Sakura under a weak genjutsu before tossing her into the woods. Checking his surroundings briefly, he nodded to himself before giving chase after the escaping blonde.

Naruto heard twigs crackling behind him, and turned, eyes wide as he spotted the silver-haired man gaining on him. Naruto turned around fully, tossing a handful of shuriken and kunai at the man. Many of them missed, thrown hastily, and the ones that came close we simply dodged or blocked.

"Your aim needs work, Naruto. I'm surprised you passed with skill like that." His visible eye widened as the blonde smirked, making a hand seal. Suddenly, a cloud of smoke covered the Jounins vision. When it cleared, instead of a dozen blades stuck in trees, there were a dozen clones in orange outfits, surrounding the man in a circle. They charged as one as the real Naruto moved to run away. However, twelve Naruto's was still not enough to even hold the man off for a second. In another burst of smoke, the twelve clones disappeared, and Naruto yelped as the man chased after him.

Naruto dodged wave after wave of shuriken as they were tossed at him, yelping as one grazed his arm. He scowled at the taller man in front of him, who had... taken out a book to read? Of course.

Naruto had led the man on a merry chase through the woods, but was repeatedly cut off from his chosen destination, being forced back into the clearing where they had started. Kakashi gave an eye-smile over his book, and Naruto frowned, hands clenching on two kunai.

"It was a good plan, Naruto, but you will rarely have the time to set your seals before the enemy catches up to you. Now, are we doing this the easy way, or do I have to beat you up a little?"

Naruto panted, frowning. "Can I ask a few things first?" He said, and Kakashi simply waved a hand at him, continuing to read. "So. First thing: Where did Sasuke and Sakura go?" Kakashi had noticed that the other two were gone before he even entered the clearing, and could feel their chakra signatures close by. "Second: Why can't you tell the difference between a clone dispelling and the smoke from a transformation technique? And third: Why can't you figure out I've been stalling?"

Kakashi's visible eye widened as the Naruto he had spent the past few minutes chasing disappeared in a burst of smoke. _Clone? But how! I injured it multiple times!_ Then he was unable to think on it more as there were three bursts of chakra from around him, and suddenly he fell to the ground, feeling as if there were hundreds of boulders pressing down on his back.

Naruto - the real Naruto - appeared from the side. "Gravity increasing seals. Makes everything in the area twice as heavy, and increases exponentially for each seal. Right now, you are eight times as heavy as you usually feel. Only people with the correct counter-seal on their person can walk normally in this area, as you can see." Sakura walked from the side, a hesitant smile on her face, and Sasuke appeared on the opposite side. They ringed the Jounin, and Naruto smirked as he bent down to take the bells. Just as he grabbed them, however, he found himself grasping onto air as Kakashi was replaced with a log -

Just as they thought he would.

"Now, Sakura!" Naruto yelled, and from Kakashi's place a few dozen yards away, he jumped back as the pink-haired girl **Kamiwaried** with a log they had placed, hidden, for just that purpose. Kakashi sprung back, preparing to block as she threw a... another log? At him. The log sailed over his head, suddenly being replaced with Sasuke, who pushed off of the tree, dashing towards the bells at speed, ripping them from Kakashi's belt and running back to the clearing, Sakura following.

Belatedly, Kakashi realized that the Sakura and Sasuke in the clearing were **Henged** clones of Naruto's, proven as they disappeared into smoke. They all cheered - well, grunted happily, in the case of Sasuke - as Kakashi walked out of the woods, shaking his head softly.

"Well, congratulations. Sasuke, who gets the other bell?" He asked, and the celebrating Genin stopped as they remembered that part of deal.

Naruto shook his head sadly. "Sakura, it was your idea to replace clones with you and then **Kamiwari** thrown log. You can get one." Sakura just shook her head.

"It was your seals that trapped him though, and your plan to trick him back here. Plus, you freed Sasuke-kun and ended the genjutsu on me. You deserve one. I'm not strong enough to be a genin yet." She muttered, kicking the ground softly.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, thinking, before handing a bell to each of the others. They looked at him, shocked, but Kakashi smiled from behind him.

"Well, if thats your choice, then I have no choice but to... Pass you!" Kakashi said, eye-smiling at the shocked genin. "Welcome to team seven."

"So... naruto... how did you manage to trick me into thinking that the clone was the real you? I hit it several times, and I saw it get cut with once or twice." The team was sitting around the post he had erected, having no use for it after all. Kakashi was still curious.

By now, Naruto had explained the difference between his clones and the clones they had learned at the academy. Sasuke was, of course, jealous of the skill he had, but realized that he didn't have the chakra to use it - yet.

Naruto finished his bento box, placing it on the ground, before pulling out a seal - one of the ones he had made this morning, in fact. "This is a **Clone Reparation Seal** , a seal of my own devising. You see, once I found out that I could make clones that affect the physical world, I knew that if I could make them a little stronger they would be totally awesome!" He coughed as his team looked at him, exasperated. "So, uhm. I needed to make a cross-type storage and chakra diffusion seal, combined with a body-suspension seal and a reparation seal..." Noting how absolutely no one seemed to have any clue what he was saying, he sighed.

"I made a seal that takes some of the chakra I used to make **Kage Bunshin** , store that chakra, then use that chakra to repair the clone if it gets damaged. It uses up a ton of chakra to use - like, it quadruples how much I need. It also uses up the seal to create the bunshin and sustain it." When he was done talking, he wrapped the seal around his hand, then made the handseal and summoned a bunshin. He then pulled out a kunai and stabbed it in the hand. The bunshin held up the hand, impaled knife and all, then disappeared after a couple seconds, knife falling to the ground.

"I need to increase the chakra capacity of the seal, so it can sustain injuries like that for longer- the knife in the hand causes a constant bleed of energy and sustains the wound, so the chakra is wasted trying to heal it. Or maybe a rejection component, so it pushes items out..?" He sat down, pulling out his journal, and seeming to forget the fact he had a team around him, despite the fact that they were staring at him in awe. Especially Kakashi - the two genin, and apparently Naruto, had no idea how incredible this seal was. But he knew the implications it could have for their village - hell, for shinobi warfare in general.

With the ability to make self-sustaining clones that could repair from non-fatal damage, they would be able to reduce the losses of combat from hundreds of shinobi to thousands of clones. Mentally, he made a note to talk to the Hokage about this. Obviously, someone had been teaching the young Uzumaki, and the only person he knew of was Jiraiya of the Sannin. As Sensei, he should be aware of any other teachers the boy should have had...

Kakashi soon left, after revealing to them that he was over an hour late to a meeting with the other Jounin Sensei - making the trio sweatdrop. He gave them a wave, then poofed in a **Shunshin**.

He was still in thought when he reached the Hokage tower, and jumped through the window of the Jounin meeting room, startling - but not surprising - the men and women within. He was brought out of his thinking when he heard someone calling his name.

"...ashi? Kakashi? Are you listening to me?" Someone asked, and he replied on auto-pilot.

"Sorry, Gai. You say something?" The room was silent. And Kakashi looked up to realize that Gai wasn't even in the room, having gotten his own team last year.

"Actually, Kakashi, that was me talking. But I thank you for confusing me with the 'youthful, valiant green beast of Konoha.'" A dry, old voice said, and Kakashi realize that he had tuned out the Hokage of all people.

He blushed, and there were some snickers from the Jounin around the room. "My apologies, Hokage-sama." he took a seat in an open chair, and looked up at the elderly man. "I would like to talk to you about a member of my team after the meeting, sir." Sarutobi nodded - Naruto tended to raise quite a few questions.

Asuma chuckled. "That implies that you passed a team for once, Kakashi. Did the brats finally get to you?" Kakashi nodded, surprising the people in the room. "Who was on your team again?"

"Haruno Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke." He replied, and a few of them nodded.

"I'd expect no less from the last member of the Uchiha Clan, after all. Rookie of the year and all that." Asuma chuckled, but Kakashi frowned and shook his head.

"I wouldn't say that it was just Sasuke. All three of them will become a force to be reckoned with in the future - especially Naruto."

 _So he did the bell test, huh? Lazy bastard can't even come up with his own test._ Naruto just sighed, rolling his eyes. _And when did Kakashi develop such a late streak? No student of mine was ever late to a meeting when I called one without good reason. And he makes it a habit!_

 _He reads Icha-Icha in public too, Tou-san._ Naruto wrote, a smirk on his face. He was currently seated in his apartment, sitting on his bed with his back to the wall.

 _Raiya's orange trash books? Really?_ Naruto could almost hear the exasperated sigh of his father, even though he had only ever heard that voice once, almost four years prior. He tended to imagine the voice of his father in his head when he read what was written in the journal, as it made him feel a little closer to the man, instead of the memory.

 _Anyways. I'm glad that the Clone Reparation Seal worked out well, even if you had to field test it against an A-rank Jounin to figure that out. But, from what you've told me, if it is impaled or punctured for a long period of time, the chakra in the seal bled out. My theory is that in continually healed the area around the wound, but the continued presence of the knife kept making the wound faster than it could heal it._

Naruto nodded slowly. _I was thinking of maybe dedicating a rejection quadrant to the seal? Like, something to push anything in-organic out of the clone so the wounds could heal easier..._

Minato seemed to think for a moment, no words being written on the inside of the book. _I think that might work. There's an old seal me and Tsunade working on for a while, but we abandoned it. It was designed to push shrapnel out of the body, but often caused more harm than good. I've been thinking, though, that maybe..._

Naruto and his father theorized and brainstormed different seal modifications for hours, until Naruto eventually looked up and noticed, startled, that he was supposed to be at the Hokage tower in fifteen minutes.

 _Well, looks like we get to test out the transportation seal we came up with last week._ He wrote quickly, running to the roof of his building. He didn't need to look up from the journal to make sure he didn't bump into anyone - no one wanted to live near the demon, after all, - and kept his eyes on his father's journal. _And it's called the 'Bounding Step' seal, Tou-san._

 _I still can't believe you thought the Sub-Sonic Moon Jumping Sky Render Enhancement of Godly Wings seal was a bad name._

Naruto sighed, closing the journal and placing it back inside the seal in his jacket. He pulled a slip of paper from his kunai pouch, with a rather simple(Compared to some of his seals) design on it. He pressed it to the ground, channelling chakra through it, and a swirl of red lines traced themselves around him.

The area the seal had covered suddenly groaned and shifted, straining against the rooftop it was part of. With a screech, the tiling gave way, lifting a five-by-five square part of the roof up and tilting it at an angle. Naruto eyed it carefully, then shrugged, standing on the Fuuinjutsu-clad material, seemingly defying gravity as he hung almost parallel to the ground, his feet sticking to the square. Sighting the Hokage tower - about a half mile in the distance - he took a deep breath before rolling his neck and cracking his knuckles.

He raised his foot, preparing to activate the seal, and decided a moment like this needed some bad-ass words to commemerate it. "One small step for boy, one giant leap for OOOOOHHHHSHITOHGODTHISWASABADIDEA" He pressed his foot down by accident, and with a boom was sent flying off his roof.

Below him, a couple of civilians heard someone screaming, accompanied by a loud whistling sound of something flying through the air fast. One of them noticed the orange blur flying through the sky, and pointed up at it. "Is that a bird?"

Another person, squinting as it saw the orange blur rapidly approaching, shrugged his shoulders. "Something that fast and that bright has to be a shooting star of some sort." He paused. 'Wait, I think it's saying something."

They all stopped and listened as the sound grew louder, only able to barely make out the words.

"ffffFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuu..." Was the sound they heard as it flew overhead, passing by them in a fraction of a second. They all looked at each other, then sighed, exasperated.

"Naruto." Then they went back to work.

"So... Naruto? You ok?" Sarutobi asked with a small amount of concern and a large amount of amusement. The young boy had crashed through his window, screaming, sending his ANBU guards running in. They had only just left after verifying that no, the Hokage was not under attack. A couple of them had snickered as they left, finding the situation just as amusing as he did. "I give your flying skills a five out of ten. Good speed, but lacks grace and control. Your landing needs work too."

Naruto just groaned from where he was on the ground, muttering. "Come.. here, Jiji. I have something I want to give you." He shook his fist, dazedly, and the Saindane just chuckled. Shaking himself off, Naruto nearly went to open his journal when he realized that the Hokage wasn't the only one in the room with him.

There were two other men - Kakashi being one of them. He was on time for once, which surprised Naruto greatly. The other was a tall, white-haired man with a Hai-ate on his forehead with the symbol for oil on it. He wore a green and red outfit with red sandals, and had two red trails going from under his eyes to his chin on his face, as well as a rather large smirk.

"Naruto, thank you for joining us." Sarutobi said once he had regained his composture. "This is Jiraiya of the Sannin, also known as the toad sage. I summoned him here because I figured that he had a stake in this meeting."

The Hokage had actually told him that there was an unforseen complication in Naruto's training that he wanted him to address, but nothing more. All questions were merely answered with 'it will all be explained at the meeting' and a knowing smirk.

Kakashi was slightly confused, but was experienced enough not to show it. He had no idea what this meeting was going to be about now. Originally, he had thought that they were going to explain the how and why's of how the Sannin had taught Naruto, but it was clear from Jiraiyas body language that he just as clueless as he was.

Both the men raised an eyebrow when Sarutobi nodded to the boy, guesturing to begin, and the boy simply took out a yellow journal. Kakashi knew that Naruto frequently wrote notes in it, but had no idea why it was important to the meeting. Jiraiya recognized the yellow, leather-bound book, but couldn't exactly recall where he had seen it before.

Naruto placed the book on the ground, then bit his thumb, smearing the blood on the seal on the cover. There were a couple Kanji on it that until now had been illegible, as if they were blurry. However, once the seal on the front of the book began glowing, they could read the words 'Legacy of the Namikaze' on it as clear as day.

If that hadn't shocked them enough, the glowing humanoid figure that sprouted from the self-turning pages did the rest of the job. Naruto just smiled, happy, and Sarutobi smirked.

"Kakashi, Jiraiya, meet Namikaze Minato." He took a long drag on his pipe, then started, as if he remembered something.

"Oh, but I suspect you already knew that."

 **Yo! Xander-San here. Sorry for the awkward cut off, but I have the feeling that the rest of the encounter will take up a lot of time.**

 **On a side note, please tell me if you think I'm progressing the story too fast. I'm just super excited to get out of the 'boring, set-up section' and into the main section of this story.**

 **I'm expecting this to be a 40-50 chapter story at most. Like I said, I have the story all planned out - key plot moments, the time-skip(which will occur probably around chapter 15), Akatsuki encounters - you name it, I should have a reasonable answer for how it will go down.**

 **Also, the copy+paste aspect of the FFN seems to eat some of my formatting. IDK why, but it upsets me.**

 **Next chapter should be up soon, but it might be up a little faster if you review!**

 **Xander-San**


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't, and never will, own Naruto. However, if Kishimoto ever goes missing, and ownership of Naruto ever changes to a thin, sickly-looking, tall white guy with scruffy red beard, you know whodunnit.**

Kakashi Hatake had made Jounin at age 12 for a reason. Skill, speed, mental fortitude, and an unshakeable desire to see anything he started through to the finish. In his 22 years as a ninja, he had grown from a powerful - but emotionally stunted - shinobi, eventually becoming an unstoppable force, willing and able to do whatever it took to see his mission through and keep his comrades safe.

As a result of his decades of training and experience, Kakashi was very, very rarely surprised by anything. He had been ambushed by dozens of Iwa shinobi three years before, not even blinking at the sudden assault on his person and team - something that led to his illusion of 'seeing the future.' He had walked in on the Hokage reading Icha Icha before - not surprised. There was even the one time when he was twelve that he had walked in on his Sensei being bound by Uzumaki Kushina to a tree with her chains. He was disturbed, sure, but didn't show any outward sign of surprise.

However, today, he was surprised. Seeing your idol, teacher and surrogate father apparently rise from the dead would do that to you. But Kakashi was still a shinobi of Konoha, so he cut straight to the chase, as any good ninja would.

"How... Wha... Huh?"

Or... maybe not.

"A very elegant assessment of the situation, Kakashi." His sensei said, deadpan. "Does this mean you aren't glad to see me?"

Kakashi's visible eye was wide open, blinking rapidly as he looked up and down the ghost before him. Minato was exactly as he remembered him - Blue shirt, green vest, blonde hair and delicate, almost feminine features.

"Yes! I mean, N-no, Namikaze-Sensei. I mean, Hokage-sama. I mean, uhm... Maybe?" He stuttered out, still obviously confused. Granted, he wasn't the only one - Jiraiya was standing in the corner, jaw on the floor. Naruto and the Hokage were the only ones not surprised. They were happy - ecstatic in Naruto's case - to see the man, but they had expected and planned for this, and were watching the two other men with blatant humor.

Minato nodded, his face still mostly emotionless, only a glint in his eye betraying his humor at the situation. "A large selection of answers to chose from, Kakashi. Never let it be said that you didn't cover a topic thoroughly." Kakashi didn't respond, his mouth still gaping like a fish under his mask.

"M...Minato?" The blonde man turned, looking towards the white-haired man in the corner. "Is... is it really you?" Jiraiya reached out a hand slowly, but didn't move to touch the apparition.

Minato cocked his head slightly, studying the Sannin before him. He recognized his teacher, obviously - he was quite distinctive in his appearance. How does one miss someone with hair that huge? Finally Minato nodded, then opened his mouth to speak.

"You got fat."

Every person in the room face-faulted at that. "How dare you speak to your elders as such!" Jiraiya said, pulling himself off of the floor. "I am a legendary Sannin, and I deserve to be respected as such! For I am the magnificent, the gallant, the incredibly handsome and fearsomely strong Jiraiya!" He struck a pose, and somehow a breeze picked up in the room, causing his long, white hair to flow majestically. Everyone in the room-sweatdropped, but not Minato.

Minato chuckled, then laughed, a full, warm, throaty sound. "Kami, I missed you." Each member of the meeting just watched, three of them in awe. Only one person had ever been able to laugh like that that they had ever known. If they had had any doubt as to who they were speaking to before, it was gone now.

The fourth person, and the youngest of the meeting, was to tired of watching the events. He had waited for five years for this, after all.

"Tou-san!" Minato stumbled a bit as a ball of blonde hair and blue eyes tackled him in a hug. Minato smiled, patting the boy on the head. Even the two shocked individuals had to smile as the blonde boy buried his face in his father's shirt, gripping on as if his life depended on it. Minato looked down, getting Naruto's signature closed-eye smile and grin as his reward. He also noticed something else, however...

"Naruto... what are you wearing?"

Everyone in the room - sans the blonde genin - shivered a little at the cold demeanor barely hidden behind his voice. The blonde boy was completely oblivious, however, and tugged at the fabric as he looked down.

"It's my ninja jumpsuit!" Minato visibly flinched. "It's super comfy and it's got all these pockets and stuff. And it's orange, too! Orange is awesome, Dattebayo!" Minato flinched again. Of course, those would be a few of the things Kushina passed on to their son... A lack of fashion sense, extreme and needless enthusiasm, and a horrendous verbal tick. Naruto continued on. "I mean, I was gonna get this super awesome trench coat and boots and stuff, but it was too expensive..." He tapered off into a mumble.

Minato's eye twitched, and his hands flexed by his sides. His voice remained icy calm though. "I thought that the Hokage was responsible for paying a stipend to all orphaned children and academy students? That should be more than enough to play for... proper clothes." Naruto mumbled something unintelligible, as even he managed to catch ahold of his father's bad mood. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Everything's too expensive. I mean, I double-check the prices before I go to the counter, and always make sure I have enough money, but then they tell me that it's either an understocked item - whatever that means - or that taxes have increased." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly looking up at his father. "I mean, by now I know that they're only doing it because of the Kyuubi -" at this, the sound of Jiraiya's and Kakashi's jaws hitting the floor could be heard. Not that they had that much farther to fall anyways. "- But it's still really hard to buy much of anything really. Food, clothes - just paying rent takes up half my stipend. And whenever I try to protest they kick me out of the store, sometimes even ban me."

"You're paying rent?" Sarutobi asked, his voice cold. Not nearly as cold as Minato's, but still icy nonetheless.

Naruto, confused - and slightly scared at the expressions of the three men in the room(Kakashi was also quite angry, but he couldn't tell from the third of his face that was visible) - looked around. "Yeah..? The landlord told me that I had to. But he still won't fix the water heater or the furnace. It's not my fault there's not enough people in the building to justify fixing it." The sound of wood splintering was heard, and Naruto looked over to see that Sarutobi had clenched his fists so hard that his desk had broken under his hands.

Naruto looked back and forth at the four men, feeling the palpable killing intent in the air. "Did... Did I do something wrong?" He released his father, shrinking back, only to have the taller blonde man grab him in a death grip, squeezing him to his side.

"Why... Why don't you got change into something that's... not a giant glowing prison uniform." Minato forced out from between clenched teeth. "We have some things to talk about that you can't hear yet. Training and stuff, ok?" He said, smiling down at his son.

Naruto may have been oblivious, but he could tell that there would be little, if any, talk of 'training.' He nodded slowly, hugging his father tightly, before stepping to the door. "Will.. will you be here when I get back?" He asked softly, and Minato nodded.

"I made sure that the second fragment of my soul would be the largest, so I've got another two and a half hours or so." An expression of realization dawned on Jiraiya's face, and Sarutobi made a few hand signals. A masked, but clearly female ANBU materialized from the roof, startling no one but Naruto. His mask was painted in the image of a hawk, but other than that he had the standard ANBU uniform.

"Hawk here will help you pick out something to wear that is... more fitting for a shinobi. Though, I do have to question the skill of my employees if they cannot catch a twelve year old wearing bright orange after he performs a prank." Hawk shivered slightly, feeling the gaze of the Hokage on her. "She will also ensure that you are allowed into whatever store you want, and that you are paid properly. Anyone who refuses will be brought here _immediately._ " With that said, the Hokage handed a small wad of ryo to the boy, who stuffed it into Gama-chan. The white-haired Sannin grinned when he saw the wallet, but otherwise didn't change from his cold demeanor.

Naruto took one last glance around the room, and all the men forced smiles out at him. He walked two steps towards the door, but then turned around and tackle-hugged his father again.

"You better be here when I get back or I'll spill ramen on you again." Minato chuckled, then ruffled his son's hair again.

"I promise. Hokage's honor." Naruto smiled, then walked out the door, ANBU escort closing the door as they left.

For a moment, all in the room was silent after the latch clicked closed. Jiraiya and Kakashi were torn, both bursting with questions, but able to tell that the two Hokage's - former and current - were holding a silent communication with their eyes.

Finally, Minato closed his eyes and sighed, loud and deeply. "They will die." He said, and Sarutobi shook his head.

"No." Minato glared at him, but the elderly man just smirked. "They will suffer. Then they will ask to die, and we will not let them." Minato smiled, a grin that resembled that of a shark. "I think Ibiki might be able to figure out why they are actively sabotaging the future of an innocent child, hm?"

Jiraiya and Kakashi shuddered as their two superiors plotted the destruction of their 'loyal subjects.' Jiraiya was the first to recover. "You crazy bastard. You sealed parts of your soul into your notebook. Spitting in the Shinigami's eye, eh?"

Minato smiled, then stretched out his arms, hugging his sensei and friend deeply. "Sarutobi called me the same thing, you know." He clasped Jiraiya's shoulders, holding him at arms length. "God, I missed you. Twelve years in a book with no one to talk to makes conversation kind of lacking." Jiraiya, still in a state of semi-shock, just smiled.

"You're going to have to explain to me how exactly you managed to preserve yourself in a book for all these years. Splitting a section of your soul large enough to retain sentient thought, and then being able to make a fully functional chakra projection... And I thought that the **Hiraishin** was the most advanced piece of fuuinjutsu I'd ever seen." Jiraiya was going to continue, but Minato shook his head.

"I will never teach anyone how to split their soul like I have." He raised a hand, cutting off the Sannin's exclaimation. "You were right when you said I was spitting in the shinigami's eye." He sighed deeply, looking up. "There is an afterlife of some sort, Jiraiya. More along the lines of reincarnation than anything else, but still. And I'm not allowed in." He raised three fingers on his hand. "I put three sections of my soul into this book. One was used up when Naruto first found the book." he ticked one finger down. "The second is being used today." The last finger went down, and he shook his head grimly. "Once the third one is used... Well, no more Minato."

Jiraiya frowned. "But... Don't you still die anyways? I mean, basically all you're doing is saving bits of yourself for later..." He trailed off as Minato gave him a sad smile.

"Do you know what happens when you anger a god? Not a strong shinobi, or even something with the power of the Kyuubi. Someone or something with the power to rewrite your very existence in a moment, someone who can, and does, treat you as if you were worth no more to them than a single ant in their eyes." His eyes grew haunted, and his fist clenched by his side.

"Suffice to say, it's not pretty." The office was quiet for a moment, but then Minato looked up and clapped his hands once. He looked to his former student, a smile blazing on his face, as if the last conversation hadn't been extremely disturbing or depressing in the slightest.

"Kakashi! Done trying to put your brain back together?" The silver haired man just nodded, slowly. "Good! Because you are now responsible for the life of my son, and I expect you to take damn good care of him, mental trauma be damned. You're a ninja, kid. Get used to it."

Kakashi huffed. "Well then. Despite the obvious fact that you are breaking the very laws of the universe in order to talk to us and that I would like to do nothing more than become a dribbling pile of gorgeous silver hair and confusion, I assume you have a reason for sending Naruto out of the room?"

Minato huffed. "Well, getting rid of that orange monstosity he called clothing was a pretty big reason. But, there are a few key factors that you need to know about Naruto in order to train him properly." Kakashi nodded, slowly.

"I originally thought that he had been getting training from Jiraiya-san, when I saw the complex nature of some of the seals he was using during the bell test." He rubbed his chin slowly, not noticing the fond smile Minato gave him. "But it makes sense, seeing as you've probably been teaching him since he was, what, seven?" His former sensei nodded.

"Naruto is probably a level six, borderline seven seal master at this point in time. I have no doubt that this is partially due to his Uzumaki heritage. He'll probably become a full seal master by age fifteen with my and Jiraiya's help, not to mention the books me and Kushina left behind for him." Minato snapped his fingers, looking to Sarutobi.

"Speaking of that, one of the main things I wanted to talk about for this session. First things first, I think Naruto is experienced enough to posses Kushina's storage book." The wrinkled man nodded slowly, then moved to a painting on the wall - one, ironically enough, of the Fourth Hokage himself. He moved it to the side, then cut his thumb and activated the seal on it. Then another seal, and another, then three locks and a double layered vault combination. Then another seal, just for good measure.

He noticed the people in the room staring at him in disbelief, and shrugged his shoulders. "An academy student managed to single-handedly break into this vault two days ago. I figured it might be wise to increase the security a wee bit." He didn't need to mention who said academy student was, nor the fact that he obviously had let the boy take the Forrbiden scroll in order to find out why he was taking it.

Honestly, the 'God of Shinobi' defeated by a pretty girl? Or boy dressed as one? Or... whatever. Distracted? Yes, of course. Defeated? No way.

He opened the final security measures - two seals and a high level exploding tag that required a specific sequence of chakra bursts to disarm - and opened the vault that held some of the most important items in Konoha. Among them was the Forbidden scroll, a small seal that held the true forbidden scroll on the back of the wall(1), Kushina's chain-bound journal - which he promptly grabbed - three **Hiraishin** kunai, and a few suspiciously orange books.

Closing the vault - and all of its security measures in the process - he turned back to Minato with the heavy book in his hands, and gave it to the man. Minato looked down at it fondly, sighing. _Twenty years of my wife's ambition, and this is all that remains._ He sent a small burst of chakra to to lock, and the chains fell away from the lock, before fading into yellow dust-like chakra that faded into the air. He flipped open the first page, and smiled.

"Please don't tell me that Kushina will be joining us shortly." Jiraiya deadpanned. He loved that woman, he really did. But boy did she ever have it out for perverts. Despite the lesser known fact that she was, buried under that red hair and malicious chain-wielding, as pervert herself.

Minato shook his head, still smiling. "Not at all. This journal was her life's work, something that her mother gave to her when Uzu was collapsing. She spent damn near every moment of her free time working on this." He flipped another page, then sighed again. "This is all that remains of the Uzumaki's greatest work - the entirety of each and every single bit of Fuuinjutsu that her clan had ever created, sealed into this nigh-impenetrable storage journal."

The journal itself really was a work of genius. It didn't look like much. each page had only ten seals on it, each with a Kanji for a number from one to ten, and then the simple kanji for 'Forbidden' after that. At the top of the page would be two or three words, explaining only what was stored in that page. To anyone with no Uzumaki heritage, or any who had not performed the Uzumaki marriage cerimony, the book would simply remain just that - a book. But put a little of the right blood on your finger, touch it to the seal you wanted, and...

Minato did just that, pressing his finger to the seal labeled 'one.' The top of the page read 'Chakra Manipulation' and nothing else. There was a small 'poof' sound and suddenly a large cloud of smoke appeared, obscuring the book from his vision. When it cleared, however, everything was different.

The book he now held in his hands was a vibrant yellow, and on the cover it read 'Chakra Manipulation seals and seal theory, levels zero to lower one.' The book was now four times the size as well, and had easily over three thousand pages. Jiraiya nearly salivated looking at it. That much information, theory and sealing, all dedicated to the lowest level of chakra manipulation Fuuinjutus?

Sarutobi was the first to speak, watching as Minato closed the book and sent a small pulse of his chakra into it, reverting it back to its smaller, brown-colored state. The chains and lock reappeared, and minato looked up, still smiling.

"So. Uhm. You seem to hold what is quite possibly the most valuable and incredibly detailed book on Fuuinjutsu to ever exist. And... you want to give it to a twelve year old.?"

Minato nodded. "Yep."

The Hokage looked up, meeting Jiraiya's eyes, then Kakashi's, then back to Minato.

"I see no problem with this." the other three murmered their agreement. "However, I truly hope that you can dissuade him from some of the more, ah, volatile sections of the book." Kakashi paled, thinking of the village's resident prankster, only with the ability to create his own custom exploding tags.

 _The horror I have seen..._

Minato, oblivious to his student's inner turmoil, placed the journal back on Sarutobi's desk. "Now. Second and last important thing before I talk to Kakashi about a training plan." He sighed deeply, turning to the Hokage yet again.

"I want you to give him the Namikaze estate."

For a moment, the people in the room were quiet. The Saturobi rubbed his inner ear with his pinky, as if cleaning it. "Sorry, what? for a moment I thought I heard you say you wanted him to have the Namikaze estate."

Minato rolled his eyes. "I did. You aren't hearing things in your Senility, old man. I want my son to inherit his rightful home - not that dump of a place you call an apartment." Sarutobi sat down behind his desk, rubbing his temples, and sighed.

"Do you plan on revealing his heritage?" Minato startled, shook his head.

"Of course not. Do you realize how much danger that would put him in?" Sarutobi nodded.

"Of course I do. But do you realize how much danger _not_ revealing it would put him in?" Minato - and the other two men, shook their heads, confused. "Imagine it this way. You are a group of about three thousand angry citizens in the village. You have the combined IQ of a jar of mayonnaise. Your greatest hero sacrificed himself to stop a demon, the very demon that killed most of your family and loved ones. Suddenly the person you believe to be that demon - regardless of how stupid the idea is, how infantile it is to take out your anger on someone who was a newborn baby at the time of said sacrifice, or what common logic dictates - suddenly, for no real good reason, the demon moves into the house of your hero, and now officially owns the legacy that your greatest hero left behind." Sarutobi looked up, face screwed into a scowl.

"Am I making a point here or do I have to keep going?"

The other three men, frowned, and it was clear that each was thinking. Jiraiya raised a hand, as if he had had an idea, but then stopped and frowned again. Finally, Minato sighed. "You've made your point quite clear, Sarutobi. But... Naruto is a ninja of the leaf now. As such, he is under your protection from any civilians that mean him harm. I still believe that telling the world that I am his father will have far greater consequences than him simply changing addresses."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "I think you severely underestimate just how much the village hates the Kyuubi, and how much damage 'changing addresses' could cause." He then sighed. "And while I admit that Naruto _should_ be protected from most civilians, the Civilian section of the council is rather, well, adamant about how issues regarding the boy are dealt with."

Now it was Minato's turn to raise an eyebrow - as well as Jiraiya's. He didn't really spend much time dealing with the council, after all. Sarutobi continued, grimacing. "Shortly after the Kyuubi attack, the remaining members of the council - seven of the fifteen had been killed - made a rapid grab for power. They used the excuse that there was no current acting Hokage to turn themselves into a dictatorship for two days until my official re-inauguration." He clenched his fists, pounding the desk. The other men flinched, startled.

"The bastards managed to pass about a dozen laws and protect them under three miles of bullshit and loopholes. The speed at which they did this makes me think that they were... not exactly expecting, but at least prepared for a major event like that to happen. A particular bandaged old man brings himself to mind." All four men mentally cursed the blackhole of bureaucracy and bullshittery that was Danzo.

"One of these laws - and one of the ones that managed to get the whole damn thing passed - was that all matters pertaining to anything related to the Kyuubi and its further handling were to include the Civilian council. Something about how the effects the Kyuubi could have affected the entire villiage, or some such bullshit." He sighed deeply, reaching into his drawer and pulling out his pipe. As he stuffed the tobacco into it and lighted it, he continued talking. "They wrapped all the laws they made in those three days in some pretty package and called a city-wide vote on it, and it passed. Therefor, I cannot interfere with it." Taking a long drag on his pipe, he grimaced again. "Manipulation of mob mentality at it's finest."

Minato sighed deeply. "Fucking politics. Give me a kunai and a dozen S-rank missing nin to fight any day, and I'll gladly go into battle with a smile. Stick me in a room with three pencil pushers, and I'll be tempted to ram said kunai in my eye within the hour."

Jiraiya chuckled. "And people wonder why I leave the village for so much time. I can see why Tsunde-hime likes the road so much."

Sarutobi gave his student a pained grin, then looked around the room. The last loyal remnants of Konoha's greatest team, shattered and emotionally ruined; the ghost of a hero, whose memory had been twisted; the son of the White fang, and once one of Konoha's most promising ninja, left to bury himself under habits of his teammates to hide how broken he was.

 _And an old, dried-up 'God of Shinobi.'_ "How the mighty have fallen." he whispered under his breath. "You know, I'm half-tempted on a daily basis to just slaughter the whole damn council, light this office on fire - _fucking paperwork_ \- and just find a nice tree in the woods to hole up in. Politics and time, a Shinobi's worst enemy."

Kakashi cleared his throat. "I say that we should let Naruto move into the estates, but not particularly tell anyone about it." The other three men looked at him, and for a moment he realized how over-ranked he was. A single washed-out ANBU captain, giving advice to two Hokage's and one of the Sannin? Nevertheless, he continued on.

"I mean, it's a Shinobi clan base, so there have to be a few secret entrances. So long as he doesn't do anything to the outside of the building, no civilians will know. Hell, we can put a Genjutsu or a seal on the estate so it looks just the same. And if any Shinobi ask, just tell them and label it an A-rank secret. Nothing to complex. Naruto's heritage still remains secret, he gets the house, and no one knows. Win-Win." The other men looked at each other, then back to him.

"You went and grew up on me, Kakashi. It's... kinda terrifying, to be honest." Minato said, deadpan, and the other three in the room sweatdropped. He held his hand to the floor, at about waist height. "I remember when you were this tall, and all super serious all the time with a chip the size of a council member's ego on your shoulder." He faked a sniff, and wiped a non-existent tear from his eye. "My baby genin, all grown up."

"Righhhht... Anyways. I think that is a great idea Kakashi. It should give Naruto time to adjust to his new home without the council bothering him. And, if need be, I have a few defensive seals we can throw down around the property..." Jiraiya chuckled, rubbing his hands together like a mad genius. "After all, Konoha shinobi are allowed to use any means necessary to defend their properties, are they not?"

Minato smiled. "Well, I think that solves that...and we can burn the old apartment down! Once we deal with the landlord, that is." His grin when he mentioned property damage freaked the hell out of the other men. "Tell people he moved, but refuse to tell them where for his safety. And if the Council asks, you can say it's 'shinobi business' because he moved to a clan ground! That'll send them on a wild goose chase through all the other clans to find out who took him in."

"Well, now that that order of business is finished, the third and final thing. Kakashi. My son is on his way back as we speak, but this shouldn't take too long." The Jounin stood up straight, meeting his sensei's eyes with his own. "You are Naruto's Jounin-sensei, and as such, you have a responsibility to him, to the Hokage, to the village, and to yourself to train him to the best of your ability. As you now know, I've been training him in an... indirect manner for the past five years."

"If I were to rank him at this point in time, I'd probably give him... Low Chunin, and that's only if I were being generous with his skills." He sighed. "There's only so much you can learn from a book, and Naruto has never been a book learner. He's more of a hands-on type of person. That being said, he has learned a tremendous amount so far... but... in respect to what most of the children from clans have learned, that's not all that much. In all honesty, if you were to take away his skill in Fuuinjutsu - which, to be honest, is mostly useless in a full battle - he could barely scrape by as a Genin."

"So... basically he knows how to use Fuuinjutsu, but he's a normal kid otherwise?"

"Well..." Minato sighed again. "He knows basic chakra control exercises - tree walking, water walking, and leaf balancing, as well as basic chakra enhancement of his body - although that's basically by instinct. But even those few things took a tremendous time to learn. He just has so much Chakra, and so little control, and I can't see what he's doing to tell him what's wrong... It's frustrating. I know that he can go far. So very, very, very far." Kakashi nodded. After all, he was the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

"Push him to his very limits and beyond, Kakashi. He's an unstoppable juggernaut when it comes to training. Nigh-unlimited Chakra, stubborn as a mule, and a massive healing factor from the fox. Combine that with the fact that he's willing to do damn near whatever it takes to make the villiage see him for who is really is, and..." Minato smiled. "Perfect student."

The other three men nodded. "Granted, he's still a complete idiot." The three men went from nodding to the floor as they face faulted. "What? It's true. He's smart, not doubt about that. he's got that brand of creative genius that makes a seal master truly great. But..." He sweatdropped. "His favorite Jutsu, and the one he's most proud of, is when he turns himself into a naked girl and defeats his enemy via... nosebleed. Kind of an idiot. Nothing that can't be beaten out of him with a few missions and a bit of reality."

Kakashi nodded again, and Minato reached out and put his hand on the shorter mans shoulder. "I know that you'll try your best. But rest assured, Kakashi." His eyes narrowed into slits, and his smile turned into a menacing grin. "If you let him get hurt, the third and final time I come out of this book is to show you why exactly Iwa is still terrified of a dead man." Kakashi gulped.

There came a knock from the door, and all four men turned towards it. A masked ANBU - this one in the shape of a weasel - melted out of the shadows and went to open it, hand on his ninjato. Cracking the door open for a second, he then relaxed and opened it up fully, letting Hawk in, followed by a blonde-haired and blue-eyed boy. The four(seven, counting the hidden ANBU) men looked at him in surprise, and Naruto embarrassedly tugged on his new clothes.

The Hokage was the first to speak. "Well. That's certainly a change."

 **Chapter 3 done. Sorry it took so long. But I have a very good reason.**

 **My typing style is a more advanced version of the 'Hunt-and-peck' that most old people used. Combined with a half-year of mostly forgotten typing classes I took in fifth grade, I use a technique I like to call the 'six finger shuffle.' This means I use, as implied, my index, middle and ring fingers on both hands. The right index finger usually takes up most of the work, and the other four pick up the slack.**

 **Guess which finger I broke two weeks ago?**

 **Sorry if it's a bit of a cliffy, but this seemed like the best place to cut off. No review responses this time, unfortunately. Partially because I didn't get all that many worth responding to(Hint, hint.), but mostly because I'm lazy.**

 **I will answer and put out a couple things you should know, however.**

 **NARUTO WILL NOT FUCK THE KYUUBI. Our fox will remain male, he will remain an uncooperative asshole(mostly), and he will not be taking a human form. This leads nicely into the next section, which is**

 **NARUTO WILL NOT FUCK EVERYTHING WITH TITS. Thats right. Not a Harem fic. I mean seriously, people. yeah, there are a ton of hot girls in the Anime - its an anime. But just because you can't choose which big titted bimbo to wank off to doesn't mean that your fanfiction character needs to bang em all for you.**

 **This will be a single pairing fiction. I have yet to decide exactly on who Naruto's love will be, but I am leaning heavily towards Tenten or Hinata. Hinata because, well, Hinata - literally exactly who Naruto ends up with in the Manga. (I did the research.) Tenten because she's awesome and I love her.**

 **Naruto's fighting style will revolve heavily around fuuinjutsu and the uzumaki bloodline, as well as two legendary swords - one he will find, one he and Tenten will create together. I'm not going to give Naruto the Hiraishin and instantly make him Kung-fu Action Magic Jesus. Not to say he won't have his own seal that allows him to teleport - he will. I have everything planned out, people. Trust the author, for he is your god now.**

 **Other than that, not all that much to say. Naruto isn't hella strong or hella smart. He wont have the ability to instantly beat up anyone who messes with him - not yet. Not until at least after the time skip.**

 **He is going to fight, and he is going to lose. He is going to progress from a happy-go-lucky blonde, innocent idiot into what can only be described as a tropical storm. Warm, flowing, free, but capable of becoming a relentless force of nature at a moment's notice.**

 **And two hints to anyone who wants to know how he'll fight in the future - The 7th sense from Yet Again, with a little help this time by Third Fang is kind of similar to part of it.**

 **And his Bingo Book name will be the Tempest of Blades.**

 **I'll try to type as fast as my poor mangled finger will let me. But I might fight through the pain if you give me the sustenance that is internet words, AKA reviews.**

 **Cya!**

 **-Xander-san**


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